I'm trying to keep a log of all the things we cook which taste really lovely. You know what it's like: you tweak and tweak a recipe until it's barely recognisable and then wonder how you used to make it. And it will also save a lot of time and bits of paper when it comes to sharing those recipes with friends.

Now combine the 2 bowls and beat vigorously. This will be a pretty huge amount, so choose your bowl wisely.

Now for your baking tin options: for a humdinger of a birthday cake, line two 7″ round tins and share the mixture between them; for a lovely treat for your work colleagues, a traybake in a rectangular tin might be less messy and more portable. Or why not try my compromise which is a standard brownie tin to do a little traybake, and one 7″ tin which I’ll split in the middle and ice inside and out?

Any way you choose, put your tins in a preheated moderate oven (180 degrees) for 25 – 40 minutes. Turn around 180 degrees midway through cooking, and turn down a little if they are browning too much before they turn springy.

And now for the best bit…the icing. The following measurements will make a lawdy-me amount of icing, so adjust according to taste and purpose.

300g full-fat Philadelphia (room temperature)

100g proper butter (soft)

600g icing sugar, sifted

2 – 3 teaspoons vanilla essence

Mix the Philadelphia and the butter together in a food processor or with an electric whisk until smooth, then add the icing sugar and vanilla and whisk until lumpfree and irresistible. Ice away with gay abandon.